Chef, Entrepreneur, Writer, Team Builder

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Monthly Archives: October 2014

Stuck in a sweaty kitchen on a gorgeous summer day was torture in the past. I can remember yearning to just run out the kitchen doors to enjoy the beautiful day and never come back.

Well as luck has it, about 10 years later I have left the kitchen with thoughts of not returning. But I do itch to be back in a professional kitchen every once in awhile…

As the summer wraps up so does the incredible catering adventures I had through Fire Roasted Catering this 2014 season. What a blast it was to set up an open air kitchen brigade and cook some of the most amazing looking and tasting food I have ever cooked before. Local animals, local produce, and everything cooked on an open fire right down to the dessert and coffee. Though not easy work lifting 100+ pound iron cooking trays and contraptions, being engulfed in smoke at times, and meeting a strict timeframe, it sure was rewarding at the end when all the guests “oo” and “ahh” over the culinary theatre and performance of our setup. Oh and a shower never felt so good!!

View the video -here- on the Fire Roasted Catering homepage and see below for a few of my favorite pictures I took when my hands we free and not turning a spit, shucking oysters, or arranging grand charcuterie boards. #fireroastedchef

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Through a challenging and stressful year both personally and professionally, I seemed to have drifted away from my blog which at one point I cherished so. Slowly but surely inspiration for the blog is filling up and getting up.

A new series to the blog I would like to introduce is called ‘Taking the Fear Away from Fish’. As a cook, retail fish manager, and educator the topics I often discuss are ways to get people to take home a restaurant quality piece of fish (or better) and easily cook it and enjoy cooking it.

Impeccably fresh fish, and a few simple yet quality ingredients is all I ever preach. If you have the time and a kitchen modeled after a 3-star restaurant then that is another thing. Simple and quality ingredients require only simple preparations to be enjoyed.

Take for instance en papillote. Simply defined, en papillote cooking is steaming the whole meal in a (parchment) bag. Whether you use a large bag for the whole fillet of fish or individual ones for each guest, en papillote is one of the easiest yet elegant preparation for a pristine fillet. The aromas and juices from whatever veggies you are cooking mingle with the delicate briny flavor of the fish and vice versa. The bag can be brought to the table and snipped open to allow a pleasant whoosh of aroma to fill the air and your guest’s senses. The cleanup? Well I’ll let you think to that…